Apparatus for comminuting and cooking of raw meat used for the manufacture of cooked sausage

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for the cooking of raw meat to be used in the manufacture of cooked sausage. Meat subdivided into chunks of convenient size is fed into a pressure creating conveyor, preferably a screw conveyor, and into a comminuting device consisting of cooperating perforated plates and rotating knives. Finely comminuted meat from same is then conveyed directly into a cooking housing. The cooking housing in a preferred embodiment consists of an elongated tubular member having steam jets spaced both axially and circumferentially therein. Conveying means are provided for carrying the meat through the cooking housing which means in a preferred embodiment are comprised of screw flights arranged on a common shaft which is rotated as a continuation of the shaft of the comminuting mechanism.

United States Patent 1191 Meyer et al.

1 1 Mar. 19, 1974 I [73] Assignee: Kramer & Grebe K.G.,

Maschinen-und Modellfabrik, Wallau/Lahn, lm Ruttert, Germany [22] Filed:Sept. 3 1971 [21] App]. No.: 177,617

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 7, 1970 Germany 2044228[52] US. Cl 99/353, 99/357, 99/475, 99/483, 99/484 [51] Int. Cl.....A23] 3/22, B020 l9/l2, BOZc 19/22,

A471 43/04 [58] Field of Search 99/352. 353, 357, 426, 99/251, 259, 475,483, 484; 17/40, 41; 21/98; 126/20 [56] References Cited 1 UNITEDSTATESPATENTS 2,200.786 5/1940 Ardrey 99/484 X 235,343 12/1880 Daniels v99/475 X 2.182.211 12/1939 Paddock 1 99/353 X 2.693.348 11/1954Ellermann 17/40 X 1.881.171 10/1932 Cooley 99/352 X 2.966.698 l/l96lThielen 17/40 3.427.954 2/1969 7 Long 99/251 3.234.586 2/1966 Smith17/41 X 2.377.069, 5/1945 Brubaker 17/40x 1,083,731 1/1914 Darclen99/251 -l.796,677 3/1'931 Wilson r 17/40 1.844.346 2/1932 Chapman...99/352 2,324,202 7 1943 Felton 99/357 x 3,050,771 8/1962 Mylchreest99/358 x 3,132,950 5/1964 Macy 99/358 x 3.167.000 l/l965 Sassen 99/358FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 880,836 9/1971 Canada 99/483 845,0097/1952 Germany 99/483 Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney,Agent, or FirmWoodhams, Blanchard & Flynn [57] ABSTRACT Apparatus forthe cooking of raw meat to be used in the manufacture of cooked sausage.Meat subdivided into chunks of convenient size is fed into a pressurecreating conveyor, preferably a screw conveyor, and into a comminutingdevice consisting of cooperating perforated plates and rotating knives.Finely comminuted meat from same is then conveyed directly into acooking housing. The cookinghousing in a preferred embodiment consistsof an elongated tubular member having steam jets spaced both axially andcircumferentially therein. Conveying means are provided for carrying themeat through the cooking housing which means in a preferred embodimentare comprised of screw flights arranged on a common shaft which isrotated as a continuation of the shaft of the comminuting mechanism.

11 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEBHAMQ m4 3397.376

sums or a Fig. 7

APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING AND COOKING OF RAW MEAT USED FOR THEMANUFACTURE OF COOKED SAUSAGE The invention relates to an apparatus forthe comminuting and cooking of raw meat to be used in the manufacture ofcooked sausage, which invention avoids the disadvantages of thepreviously common apparatus for this purpose.

In the manufacture of cooked sausage it has been known to cook theselected meat in large pieces of various sizes in a boiler until eventhe largest pieces were cooked all of the way through. This has thedisadvantage that the smaller pieces and the edge portions of the largepieces are cooked too long and are adversely affected in both nutritivevalue and taste. The cooked meat is then removed from the boiler bystrainer spoons or other means, is placed into carts or into bowls, istransported to a mincing machine and is then comminuted by said mincingmachine. The comminuted meat is moved from the mincing machine to'acutter and is worked to a mass with the usual additions, which mass isthen filled into the sausage skin. This method has, aside from thealready mentioned loss in the quality of the meat, the disadvantage thata boiler unit is required which necessarily results in undesireablevapors and an undesired additional heating of the work room. In removingthe meat from the boiler broth, an additional loss of boiler brothoccurs. The same is also true when the meat is moved from the boiler tothe'mincing machine and also as it is fed to the mincing machine. Thesedisadvantages are avoided by the method of the invention.

According to the invention the comminuting and the cooking of the rawmeat which is used to manufacture cooked sausage is accomplished in sucha manner that the raw meat is comminuted in a mincing machine and isthen conveyed through a tube and is supplied lengthwise of its coursethrough the tube repeatedly with steam for heating. The feeding of steamfor heating to the mass of meat which has been comminuted by the mincingmachine and which has moved through the tube is carried out in the tubein theconveying direction of the meat in short intervals one after theother and at many points distributed over the cross section of the tube.Thus all comminuted meat particles are directedly contacted by the steamfor heating so that the cooking of the meat is accomplished during avery short time period, thus avoiding quality losses of the meat due toexcessive cooking. A boiler unit is not needed, also transporting of thecooked meat to the mincing machine and the resultant loss of boilerbroth are avoided. I

An apparatus which is suitable for carrying out the method consists of atube with several steam supply openings which are arranged spaced apartand of several steam distributing members inserted in said openings,each of said steam distributing members being connected to a steamsource and having a larger number of nozzles which are distributed overthe cross section of the tube and permit the steam to exit in theconveying direction of the meat. Screw flights are advantageouslyarranged between the steam supply members, which screw flights aredriven by a common shaft. The tube is dimensioned in such a manner thatit can be introduced into the housing head of a mincing machine.

The said shaft can then be coupled directly with the FIG. 2 is alongitudinal cross sectional view of the apparatus and the housing headof the mincing machine,

FIG. 3 is a front view of the apparatus, FIG. 4 is a view of asteam-injecting or nozzle ring,

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a ring according toFIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a view of a screw flight and FIG. 7 is a front view of the hubof the screw flight according to FIG. 6.

In FIG. 1, 1 identifies the front end of a mincing machine. A screwhousing 2 is secured to said mincing machine in the usual manner. Thehousing receives a conveyer screw 3 and has a steam jacket 4 with asteaminlet nozzle 5 and an outlet nozzle 6. The head 7 of the housing 2receives a cutting device in a conventional manner. It consists of knownperforated disks 8 and knives 9. The perforated disks are mounted fixedwith respect to rotation in the housing head 7, the knives are mountedfixed with respect to rotation on the knife stub 10 of the screw 3. Inorder to adjust the blade pressure there is provided a nut 11 associatedwith a spacer ring 12. The nut is screwed onto an external thread 13 ofthe housing head 2.

The end of a tube 15 which is enclosed by a jacket 16 is positioned inthe spacer ring 12. The annular chamber 14 between the tube 15 and thejacket 16is filled with an insulating material. A pipe 17 with a pipeconnection 18 for feeding of steam for heating is provided in theannular chamber M. Individual short pieces of pipe 19 lead from the pipe17 to coaxial openings in the tube 15. A larger number ofsteam-injecting or nozzle rings 20 are mounted axially movably but fixedwith respect to rotation in the tube 15, which rings 20 are illustratedin FIGS. 4 and 5. Each nozzle ring consists of an external guide ring 21and an internal nozzle ring 22. Both rings are connected by web membersor bridges 23, in the exemplary embodiment three bridges. The outer ring21 has an annular groove 23 into which one of the. short pieces of pipe19 ends. One radial opening 25 and several axiallyv directed openings 26which are used as outlet nozzles for the steam are mounted in eachbridge 23. Each nozzle ring 20 receives a bearing hub 27 which issecured in the bridges 23 by a flange 28. The hub has an annular chamber29 inside the ring 22. Nozzles 28' which lie alongside a ring areconnected to said annular chamber. The steam is fed to the annularchamber 29 through the openings 25. Each nozzle ring has a groove 30with which it is guided axially movably on a spring 31 in the tube 15which prevents a rotation of the ring.

The bearing sleeves 27 of the individual nozzle rings receive a shaft32. This shaft is coupled with the knife stub of the screw 3. Screwflights 33 which are illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 are mounted fixed withrespect to rotation on the shaft 32 between the nozzle rings 20. Eachscrew flight 33 has a hub 34 with a spline 35 which is axially movablein a longitudinal groove of the shaft 32, but connects the hub fixedlywith respect to rotation to the shaft 32.

The tube is at its forward end closed by a plate 36 which is secured inthe front plate 38 of the chamber 14 by means of screws 37. A pipe 39which is bent at an acute angle is secured to the plate 36. The mass ofmeat exits from the tube 15 through said pipe 39. The pipe creates acertain resistance against the exiting mass of meat, which at the sametime prevents the free escape of the steam from the tube 15. A ring 40surrounding the tube 15 is used to additionally secure same. Twodiametrically positioned pins 41 are secured on said ring. A T-shapedshort piece of pipe 42 is mounted rotatably on each pin. Said shortpieces of pipe are positioned on rods 43 which are secured on both sidesof the tube 15 on the mincing machine 1. Thus the rods 43 carry the tube15. The position of the short pieces of pipe 42 on the rods 43 can befixed by clamping screws 44. This type of securing makes the exchange ofthe cutting device of the mincing machine easy, one needs only torelease the clamping screws 44 and can then pull the tube 15 forwardlysufficiently to release it from the nut 11. Then the tube 15 can beswung into the position illustrated in dashed lines in FIG. 1. The nut11 becomes then accessible, it can be removed and the cutting insert canbe taken out.

In operation raw meat is fed to the mincing machine. The screw 3 conveysthe meat to the cutting device. The meat is preheated in the mincingmachine by the steam which is fed to the steam chamber 4. This heatinginside the screw is not always needed, it can also be replaced byincreasing the number of nozzle rings 20.

The meat chopped by the knives reaches the tube 15 and is furthertransported by the v first screw flight, namely, through the firstnozzle ring, etc. Steam for heating is fed from each nozzle ring throughthe several nozzles to the mass of meat moving through the tube 15 sothat the meat is cooked very quickly since practically each meatparticle is contacted separately by the steam and excessive cooking isavoided. Thus the chopped meat leaves the tube 15 or the tube 39 cookedand can then be further processed to cooked sausage in the conventionalmanner.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Apparatus for refining uncooked rrieat, comprising:

means defining an elongated hollow tube having a plurality of steaminput connections spaced axially along said hollow tube means;

steam heat supply means and connecting means for connecting said heatsupply means to said steam input connection, said steam heat being of asufficient temperature to cook said meat;

drive means for driving initially uncooked meat through said hollow tubemeans from an input end thereof whereat said meat is generally uncookedtoward an output end thereof whereat said meat is cooked; and

heat distribution means mounted internally of said hollow tube means andconnected in circuit with said steam input connection and said heatsupply means, said heat distribution means including a plurality ofopenings facing axially of said hollow tube means and spaced evenlyaround the cross section of the interior of said hollow tube means, saidheat distribution being adapted to evenly distribute said steam heatfrom said heat supply means through said plurality axially facingopenings di rectly into the cross section of said meat being transmittedthrough said hollow tube means by said drive means to thereby evenlycook said meat between said input and output ends of said hollow tubemeans, said heat distribution means comprising a plurality of nozzlering means each being mounted in an axially spaced relation along thelength of said hollow tube means and having said plurality of axiallyfacing openings therein, said axially facing openings facing in thedirection of said transmitted meat so that said steam heat is injecteddirectly into the meat in the direction of meat movement through saidhollow tube means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said nozzle ring means eachare composed of an inner ring and an outer ring both concentric withsaid hollow tube means and a plurality of evenly distributed bridgesconnecting said inner ring to said outer ring, said outer ring havingmeans defining an annular groove therein and defining at least part ofsaid steam heat circuit, said inner ring and said bridges having meansdefining passageways therein defining at least another part of saidsteam heat circuit, said inner ring and said bridges having said axiallyfacing openings therein communicating with said passageway means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said bridges extend radiallybetween said inner ring and said outer ring.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said drive means comprises arotatably driven drive shaft extending longitudinally of said hollowtube means and a plurality of screw segments mounted on said drive shaftand fixed for rotation therewith while simultaneously being permitted tomove axially of said drive shaft.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said elongated hollow tubemeans comprises a pair of concentric inner and outer sleeves having aheat insulating material therebetween. i

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said steam heat supply meanscomprises means defining a first passageway extending lengthwise of saidsleeves'in the spacing therebetween and defining a part of said steamheat circuit and wherein said steam input connections are composed of aplurality of axially spaced second passageways communicating with saidfirst passageway means and opening inwardly to the interior of saidinner sleeve, said nozzle ring means being aligned with said secondpassageway means to permit a supply of said steam heat to said axiallyfacing openings.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, including support means forsupporting said tube means for pivotal movement about an axis transverseto the longitudinal axis of said tube means so that said input end canbe moved away from the output section of a mincing machine.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said support means comprisesa pair of elongated rods extending parallel to said tube means onopposite sides thereof and are secured at one end to said mincingmachine, said pivotal support being located adjacent the ends of saidrods remote from said mincing machine.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said output end of saidhollow tube means includes a removable cover plate secured across saidend and an inescape of steam from within said tube means out throughsaid outlet pipe.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, including means defining a mincingmachine having a rotatable output screw and a jacket surrounding saidscrew, said jacket including means defining a chamber therein having aninlet connection thereto coupled to a source of steam and an outletconnection therefrom.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said verted V-shapecloutlet pipe secured to said cover plate 1() drive means drives saidscrew in said mincing machine.

so that the meat in said outlet pipe will prevent the free

1. Apparatus for refining uncooked meat, comprising: means defining anelongated hollow tube having a plurality of steam input connectionsspaced axially along said hollow tube means; steam heat supply means andconnecting means for connecting said heat supply means to said steaminput connection, said steam heat being of a sufficient temperature tocook said meat; drive means for driving initially uncooked meat throughsaid hollow tube means from an input end thereof whereat said meat isgenerally uncooked toward an output end thereof whereat said meat iscooked; and heat distribution means mounted internally of said hollowtube means and connected in circuit with said steam input connection andsaid heAt supply means, said heat distribution means including aplurality of openings facing axially of said hollow tube means andspaced evenly around the cross section of the interior of said hollowtube means, said heat distribution being adapted to evenly distributesaid steam heat from said heat supply means through said pluralityaxially facing openings directly into the cross section of said meatbeing transmitted through said hollow tube means by said drive means tothereby evenly cook said meat between said input and output ends of saidhollow tube means, said heat distribution means comprising a pluralityof nozzle ring means each being mounted in an axially spaced relationalong the length of said hollow tube means and having said plurality ofaxially facing openings therein, said axially facing openings facing inthe direction of said transmitted meat so that said steam heat isinjected directly into the meat in the direction of meat movementthrough said hollow tube means.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said nozzle ring means each are composed of an inner ring and anouter ring both concentric with said hollow tube means and a pluralityof evenly distributed bridges connecting said inner ring to said outerring, said outer ring having means defining an annular groove thereinand defining at least part of said steam heat circuit, said inner ringand said bridges having means defining passageways therein defining atleast another part of said steam heat circuit, said inner ring and saidbridges having said axially facing openings therein communicating withsaid passageway means.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein saidbridges extend radially between said inner ring and said outer ring. 4.Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said drive means comprises arotatably driven drive shaft extending longitudinally of said hollowtube means and a plurality of screw segments mounted on said drive shaftand fixed for rotation therewith while simultaneously being permitted tomove axially of said drive shaft.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said elongated hollow tube means comprises a pair of concentricinner and outer sleeves having a heat insulating material therebetween.6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said steam heat supply meanscomprises means defining a first passageway extending lengthwise of saidsleeves in the spacing therebetween and defining a part of said steamheat circuit and wherein said steam input connections are composed of aplurality of axially spaced second passageways communicating with saidfirst passageway means and opening inwardly to the interior of saidinner sleeve, said nozzle ring means being aligned with said secondpassageway means to permit a supply of said steam heat to said axiallyfacing openings.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1, including supportmeans for supporting said tube means for pivotal movement about an axistransverse to the longitudinal axis of said tube means so that saidinput end can be moved away from the output section of a mincingmachine.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said support meanscomprises a pair of elongated rods extending parallel to said tube meanson opposite sides thereof and are secured at one end to said mincingmachine, said pivotal support being located adjacent the ends of saidrods remote from said mincing machine.
 9. Apparatus according to claim1, wherein said output end of said hollow tube means includes aremovable cover plate secured across said end and an inverted V-shapedoutlet pipe secured to said cover plate so that the meat in said outletpipe will prevent the free escape of steam from within said tube meansout through said outlet pipe.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 1,including means defining a mincing machine having a rotatable outputscrew and a jacket surrounding said screw, said jacket including meansdefining a chamber therein having an inlet connection thereto coupled toa source of steam and an outlet conneCtion therefrom.
 11. Apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein said drive means drives said screw insaid mincing machine.